I and several other posters can tell you the difference. I'll make the attempt, but I strongly suspect that you aren't interested in the answer.
In a word, the difference is CONTEXT. Beachnut is a very, very smart guy who has a wealth of experience as a pilot and crash investigator. Like the other genuine experts who frequent this forum, he has presented in-depth analyses, using graphs, charts, photos, and accurate calculations. All too often, his opponents counter with--how to put it?--rubbish. They challenge his professional expertise with agenda-driven ignorance. Understandably, he gets frustrated. When he finds himself insulting the "truthers," it is a sort of shorthand. He is saying in effect, "Look, this crap has been discussed to death. There are hundreds of threads containing thousands of pages, and the particular myth you're peddling has been dismantled, dissected, demolished, shredded, and smashed from here to Bangkok. Do you think I'm going to jump through hoops for you?" Calling someone who makes an outrageous claim an idiot is poor debating form IF that's all you do. You haven't shown why we should believe that the person is an idiot. If the outrageous claim the person is making has been refuted countless times, the CONTEXT allows us to dismiss him with a rude epithet. It is unwieldly, and unnecessary, to continually trot out refutations of "truther" nonsense that many posters here can recite in their sleep.
So in essence you are using an appeal to authority as an excuse for using those tactics, and claiming that "ALL" "truther" arguments have been soundly refuted as another excuse because "truthers have nothing".
Aside from "debunkers" having debunked some "straw men" and "red herrings" that no real "truther" would support "debunkers" have done nothing to end any of the real questions/lies/holes about the OCT. They all claim to have done so here but it has always been just use of the tactics on both those lists and many others.
Calling someone who makes an outrageous claim an idiot is poor debating form IF that's all you do
And implying that you can call someone an idiot because the claim has already been refuted is ...
"Put on the right face. Cultivate a condescending air that suggests that your personal opinions are backed by the full faith and credit of God. Employ vague, subjective, dismissive terms such as "ridiculous" or "trivial" in a manner that suggests they have the full force of scientific authority."
"Portray science not as an open-ended process of discovery but as a holy war against unruly hordes of quackery-worshiping infidels. Since in war the ends justify the means, you may fudge, stretch or violate scientific method, or even omit it entirely, in the name of defending scientific method."
"Keep your arguments as abstract and theoretical as possible. This will "send the message" that accepted theory overrides any actual evidence that might challenge it -- and that therefore no such evidence is worth examining"
"Always refer to unorthodox statements as "claims," which are "touted," and to your own assertions as "facts " which are "stated." "
"Avoid examining the actual evidence. This allows you to say with impunity, "I have seen absolutely no evidence to support such ridiculous claims!" "
"If examining the evidence becomes unavoidable, report back "there is nothing new here." "
and others, but you get the point, or maybe you do not want to.
{off-topic sidetrack deleted}
Debunkers may be excused for speaking harshly to the apologists for Islamist terrorism; they have, after all, earned the right to heap scorn on those who promote hateful views that are unsupported by any evidence.
Going by this logic all "truthers" have the exact same right as the "debunkers" to do this, yet it is rare (though not unheard of) to see a "truther resort to these tactics.
And would you tell you kids that it's ok to treat anyone that way just because they believe differently than you do? SERIOUSLY? That's not debating it's schoolyard bullying
The debunkers have made their case. They've made it redundantly, pounding home certain points with sledgehammers of sound science and physical evidence.
Again no, though that claim is repeated here ad nauseum. It is one of the main JREF "debunker" mantras, that along with "the truth movement is dying"
You expend all of your energy in unproductive word games. I've explained the way to gain respect for your movement. It happens to be the only way. Show us a single piece of evidence that lends credence to one of your cherished myths.
That's all you need to do, yet it is too much for you. You can't do it.
Again, there has been a lot of evidence to support alternatives to the OCT, but when it is brought up here on JREF the "spin machine" kicks into action and instead of countering and laying to rest these claims, the majority are simply "smoke and mirrored" into oblivion until anyone who hasn't the patience to do a lot of research on their own will give up and usually side with the "officials" without knowing anything. This effect is also psych 101 (well not 101 but you get the meaning)